Seconds *COMPLETED*

Chapter 2

Daniel

"You're married, right? So, when did you actually get married?" I asked.

"Almost four years ago," she replied.

"After that, where did your husband go?" I asked.

"His job... all the employees get transferred to different branches of the company every two years. Due to that, after we got married, he was transferred to Seattle in 2 weeks. After living there for 2 years, he got transferred here. It's already 2 years since then but he still hasn't returned. That's why I came here in search of him. I have no idea where he's gone. I've also become blind now. Even though I ask people, they don't know him. I wonder where he is," she sighed.

I felt real sympathy for her.

"Where's your family, Tiara?" I asked.

"New Orleans, my parents are there. I don't have anyone else in my family," she said.

"Oh. Then, why don't you return to your parents?" I asked, puzzled.

"No way, even if I go there, I'm sure only their death will await me there," she said. Strange!

"What do you mean?" I asked, curiously.

"There are reasons for it ... but I'm sure you won't understand," she said, secretively.

"Where's your husband's family then?" I asked.

"He doesn't have a family. His family... to tell you the truth, to him, his parents are my parents. We're like in one family, you may think," she said with a slightly mischievous smile.

I was totally bewildered.

"How can that be? How can you marry your own brother?" I asked.

"He's not my brother. It's just that we have the same parents. When we were young, my parents adopted him as their son but we never actually lived together. He used to stay at a boarding school, while I stayed at my house and went to a private school near my house. When we were young, I had actually only seen him once or twice, with my parents. That's all basically. I knew everything about him from my parents, but we never spoke to each other then. Just saw each other from a distance.

My parents never brought him to our home as the fact that they had adopted him was just a secret among our family. Yet they gave him everything he needed; love, care, affection, education, a home... they gave him everything. They even loved him as much as they loved me.

When he reached university, he too went to the University of New Orleans with a scholarship. I too completed my degree at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Then, after I completed my degree when I returned home, I got to know that he too had returned to the village, but we still didn't meet then," she briefed.

"You still didn't meet him? Then, how come you married him?" I asked.

"When I came back, my parents wanted to get me married as soon as possible because of Ray, sorry I mean because uh... because I'm their only daughter, I guess. I was just 20 years old then. I had no one in mind, so I asked my parents to choose someone they liked and arrange my marriage. He was 26 years old and was also under their care. They had to get him married as well; he wasn't interested in looking for someone either.

My parents first asked me for my opinion about what kind of a person I wanted, as my marriage was more urgent. Anyway, I said that whatever his profession was, it didn't matter to me, as long as whoever they choose for me is a sincere, loyal and caring man. They just simply asked him also after that, for his opinion, since they had to get him married too anyway in a few years' time.